Accused polygamists plead not guilty in trial testing the limit of religious freedoms in Canada

Outdated polygamy laws fuelled long legal battle between province and the 2 accused

Winston Blackmore, the religious leader of the polygamous community of Bountiful, B.C. shares a laugh with six of his daughters and some of his grandchildren, in this April 21, 2008 photo. A British Columbia court will start examining Monday whether Canada's polygamy laws are constitutional. (Jonathan Hayward/The Canadian Press)

Two leaders of a fundamentalist sect that condones plural marriage have pleaded not guilty to polygamy charges in a Cranbrook, B.C., courtroom where an epic battle to test the limits of religious freedom in Canada is playing out.

Well-known Canadian polygamist Winston Blackmore, 61, and his former brother-in-law, James Oler, 53, each face one count of polygamy under Canada's 127-year-old polygamy laws.

Their trial got underway today in B.C. Supreme Court, where Oler refused a lawyer and Blackmore refused to acknowledge the charge against him, forcing the court to record a not guilty plea for him.

Two young girls of the polygamous community of Bountiful walk past the mountains at Bountiful near Creston, B.C., in April 2008. (Jonathan Hayward/Canadian Press)

The two former bishops of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS) are descendants of the original founders of the 1,500-person rural B.C. enclave, called Bountiful, where plural marriage has been practised for 70 years by the splinter group of the Mormon Church.

Blackmore at one time was the leader of the sect. Oler was appointed to lead Bountiful following Blackmore's excommunication from the Mormon splinter group in 2002 by Warren Jeffs, who was then the American FLDS leader.

He and his brother-in-law had a falling out and no longer speak. The two men lost a bid to be tried separately.

Oler is on trial for allegedly marrying four women between 1993 and 2009.